Public Work Department has codified rules relating to every bit of
activities of the Department, every kind of works, its management from concept to
finish, orga­nisational set up, their
jurisdictions and power, duties and responsibilities, Miscellaneous rules
regarding office works excluding accounts procedure. The first code came up in 1925. The
first revision was published in 1951 dividing the code into two volumes- Vol. 1 con­taining
the Text and Vol. 2, the appendices and forms.

Organisational Set up :--

The Public Work Department of the Government of West
Bengal has two Directorates.

Public Works Directorate.

Archaeological Directorate.

P.W.D. has the following services.

1.Engineering Services.

West
Bengal Senior Services of Engineers (Executive
Engineers and above)

West
Bengal Service of Engineers. (Assistant Engineers)

West Bengal Sub-ordinate
Engineering Services.

2.General Services.

3.Sub-ordinate Services and posts.

4.Divisional Accountants and Senior Accounts Clerks.

Annual Reports are of
two kinds.

Confidential and Open type.

Fresh appointment is made at the lowest cadre level and appointment
at higher levels is made through pro­motion of lower cadre officers on the
basis of Annual Reports-Confidential
or otherwise.

Generally seniority is the prime criterion for promotion.

Appointment in the posts above Executive Engineers however, shall ordinarily be on
the
basis of merit. (Different forms of Annual reports approved)

Disciplinary Actions against erring
Government Servants :-­

For misconduct or neglect of duty on the part of delinquent
officers, particularly serious cases which may render removal from Directorate, must
be reported to government. Less important cases of misconduct/neglect of duty may be
dealt by Executive Engineers, Superin­tending Engineer or Chief Engineer, as
the case may be.

Punishments :­

i)Censure.

ii)With-holding of increments, promotion,
stoppage of
efficiency bar.

iii)Demotion to lower post/lower scale.

iv)Recovery of the loss caused by
negligence.

v)Suspension.

vi)Removal from Service (Transfer)

vii)Dismissal from service.

viii)Removal/Dismissal from service can be
done by appointing authority and above.

MierarchialOrganisational Set Up :--

The Department headed by Principal Secretary (for other than works) and
Engineer-in-Chief and Ex-Officio Secretary (for works)

Duties of Engineer officersupto the rank of Asstt. Engineers have
been codified.

In fact in the hierarchy of different functional posts in the P. W. D.
Executive Engineer under West Bengal Senior Services of Engineers holds a
very vital and key post. The Department of Public Works execute
all works
through Executive Engineers of concerned jurisdiction.

Asstt. Engineers and Sub-Asstt. Engineers form the working hands and fingers of the Executive
Engineer. The works are carried out through some Sub-Divisions held
by some Asstt. Engineers.
Jurisdiction of Asstt. Engineer is sub-divided
into some section, whose charges are held by Sub-Assist. Engineers also
called sectional officers. This section is
the first step of foundation of the engineering set up for execution of
public works.

Conventional Duties :-

Every Sub-Asstt. Engineer holding a
section is the custodian of all Government assets and works in his
jurisdiction. He is responsible for
up keep of all buildings and roads in his areas. He is also responsible for
routine supervision of all construction works, as well as maintenance of site accounts. He
initiates the work to be carried
out by submission of required estimates for technical sanction. He
has to keep day to day record of
all activities at site by record measurement
in the Measurement Book. He keeps attendance of field staff and disburses their salaries. He is the
high-way officer and responsible for
keeping the highways free from encroachments. He has to carry out to routine
main­tenance of the highways with the departmental staff, if any. When in-charge of store, he has to
maintain.

Stock account (Goods received Sheet)
Form 8A.

Tools and plants
account (Form 15) Indent/Requisition (Form 14)

Surplus Stock
Account.

Indent (Form 17)
Register (7A)

Bin cards (Form 8) Register of bin card (Form 12B) etc.

He has also to survey report the unserviceable mate­rials for
disposal.

He has to attend the problems in maintenance work and get the work
done through group contractor on priority basis.

All these works are done directly under the Asstt. Engineer holding the Sub-Division, who is primarily responsible to submit monthly account and other
accounts.

Sub-Asstt. Engineer is primarily
responsible to record a measurement of works and draw bills in running account bill form (Form No. 27) and final bill (in Form No.
26.) He has to inform in advance if any tender quantity falls short
of measurement and if any items is
missing from the schedule for
preparation of the supple­mentary tender. He has to study the drawings very
thoroughly and is responsible to see that the works are carried out as per drawings and specifications. He has to attend the inspection of superior offices as per tour diary.

2.Note the discrepancies in drawings,
specifications etc. and make an Estimate
as per Drawing and check against
provisions.

3.Get the Soil examined by
the higher authority before allowing laying of
foundation concrete etc.

4.Check the levels of
founding beds.

5.Note the deficiencies and check the
constructions with
reference to drawings at the following levels :-

i)Founding Bed Level,

ii)Ground Level.

iii)Sill Level.

iv)Lintel Level.

v)Floor Level.

(
Repeat the operation
from (iii) for upper floors if any. )

6.Check the materials at site and get it
passed by the Assistant Engineer.

7.Check before casting on the previous day
that.

i)Materials are upto specifications and are sufficient.

ii)Shuttering is complete
and in order.

iii)Reinforcements are true
to drawing,

iv)Covers are
in order (with special care for top bars )

v)Get the bar binding passed by the Assistant
Engineer.

8.Record the measurements at following
levels.

i)Plinth Level.

ii)Lintel Level.

iii)Floor Level.

iv)Doors & Windows, Fittings.

v)Sanitary Ft Plumbing Work.

vi)Complete Works.

9.Get the Wood-work checked by the higher authority before allowing Painting.

10.Check that the Sanitary & Plumbing
Fittings are upto
specifications.

Professional Examination :-
(May/November)

by
P.S.C.

Paper-1
(100) Pass Mark-60 Duration 3 Hours.

Preparation of Simple Design and Estimates.

Process
for preparing materials for Tests.

Paper-II (100) Pass Mark-60
Duration-3 Hours.

Resources of materials and mode of utilisation and Management works.

Departmental rules and accounts procedure.

Oral
Test (100) Pass Mark-60 Duration-3 Hours,

Departmental Examination.

Accounts Paper-I (without
books)

Accounts Paper-11 (with books)

Hindi;
Bengali.

Work
Charged Establishments :-­

For
augmentation of personnel
strength required for specific works
for
specific term without loading regular establishment, employments
are used to be made temporarily charging the cost direct to
works :--

These
are Work-Charged establishments.

Now-a-day fresh appointments have been stopped without
concurrence of the Government.

Works :--

Public
Works may be classified
into two broad categories.

Original Works.

Repair
and Maintenance.

One is
for creation of new asset and
another for
maintenance of the created asset.

Original works-Comprise all
new works, whether of entirely new work
or of addition and alteration to
existing works, also repairs to
newly purchased buildings to bring it to P.W.D. standard.

Repairs
& Maintenance- Routine repairs required
annually or
special repairs required at intervals in order to main­tain
the assets in proper usable condition.

Administrative Approval :­

All
original works
including additions
alterations to existing works need to be
administratively approved by the concerned Administrative Deptt. as a token of administrative concurrence to the
proposal. No. adminis­trative
approval is required for works
chargeable to maintenance and
repairs. Administrative
approval of the work is infact
an order to execute certain specific works
at a stated sum to meet the administrative
needs of the Deptt. requiring the
work.

The professional
authorities generally submit rough cost estimates in response to the
proposal initiated by the different Departments, and the
administrative approval is accorded on the basis of the rough cost estimates.

Technical Sanction :-­

All
works need to be examined by the
competent Technical
Authority and accord Technical Sanction to be
detailed estimate before execution.

Powers
of according Technical
Sanction are vested with
different competent authorities for different range
of values of the work.

Preparation of Projects
:­

Every project estimate must be
preceded with a report containing the following informations

Basis
of preparation the estimate.

Correspondence of the requisitioning Department.

Reference drawings of C.G.A.
land plan etc.

Feasibility of construction.

Schedule of rates.

Analysis of rates for Non-schedule items.

Brief
specification of the work.

Total
cost of the estimate.

(Totalcost
should include the cost
of contingent expenditure @ 5%
of the estimated cost)

Repairs
and
Maintenance :--

Repairs
may be divided into two classes.

Ordinary Repair.

Special Repair.

While
ordinary repairs relate to routine maintenance
conducted
annually through group contractors, special
repairs include such
repairs which are not normally covered by
ordinary repairs and are taken up
periodically for special type of
repairs to the buildings and roads. For this purpose detailed estimates are
done and techni­cally sanctioned before taking up the work through
main­tenance groups.

Contracts :

Contract which is
essentially an agreement between the
Government of West
Bengal on one part and
the contractor on another part may be of
three kinds.

i)
Lump-sum contract.

ii)
Item rate contract &

iii)
Combination of lump-sum contract and item rate contract. In Lump-sum
contract the
work is
tendered for start to finish on the basis or detailed drawings and specifications
including all materials and labour for a
fixed sum.

In
item rate
contract the
work is,
sub-divided into different items of work for which priced schedule of items, quantities, rates and amount becomes a
part and parcel of the tender
agreement. In the third system
the work is divided into the combination of
lump sum contract and item rate contract
as spelt out above.

Notice
Inviting Tender :

The
first step towards implementation of a project work
is the floating of Notice Inviting Tender. Gene­rally
notice is restricted among the enlisted Departmental contractors
according to the value of works up to certain limit beyond which open tender
are floated and capable outside agencies
are also invited along with Class-I
contractors of P.W.D.

In
road and building works there are four categories of
enlisted contractors viz :­

Fixed Security Deposit

Class-I

Upto Rs.
25.00 Lakhs (above Rs. 10.00 Lakhs)

Rs.
62,500

Class-II

Upto Rs.
10.00 Lakhs (above Rs. 5.00 Lakhs)

Rs.
25,000

Class-III

Upto Rs.
5.00 Lakhs (above Rs. 2.00 Lakhs)

Rs.
12,500

Class-IV

Upto Rs. 2.00 Lakhs

Rs. 5,000

In Sanitary & Plumbing works
similarly there are three categories of
enlisted contractors :-

Class-I

Upto Rs.
10.00 Lakhs (above Rs. 5.00 Lakhs)

Rs.
25,000

Class-II

Upto Rs.
5.00 Lakhs (above Rs. 2.00 Lakhs)

Rs.
12,500

Class-III

Upto Rs. 2.00 Lakhs

Rs. 5,000

For
works above Rs. 50 lakhs open competitive tenders
are floated.

Contract documents :­

The contract documents which
is most vital agree­ment
paper between Government on one part and the contractors on another part shall included
the following :­

Notice Inviting Tender (both abridged and detailed)

Tender Agreement in specific form according to value
and category of the work.

Priced schedule of
quantities of various item of work,
rate and amount.

Special terms and conditions of the contract.

A complete set of drawings.

Complete specification of the
work.

Tender :

Tender
should always be sealed and should be
invite in the most open and public manner whether by advertisement in local
Newspapers or by notice in English or Vernacular posted in public place,
giving sufficient time for circulation.
The amount of earnest money to
accompany the tender should be indicated in the notice inviting tender The notice itself
should include all relevant information
:-

·
Name of work.

·
Amount of work.

·
Earnest money to be deposited.

·
Category of contractor and eligibility criterion.

·
Time of work.

·
Last date and time of application.

·
Last date and time of submission of tender.

·
Authority of acceptance.

·
Reservation about the acceptance of the tender.

Acceptance of tender :

In no
case single tender should be accepted in first
attempt without
Government approval. Lowest
tender can be
accepted if the same is otherwise in
order sub­ject
to maximum of
5%
above. The
amount put to tender without referring the same to the Govt. In case
of
apparently higher rates
attempt should be made to bower down the rate by calling sealed bids among the
participants.

Work
Order :­

On acceptance
of the tender as per rules by the competent authority ( S. E
upto Rs.-50,000,00 /­E
E. upto Rs.-10,000,00/- and A. E. upto Rs.-50,000/-) work
order has to be issued to the
selected contractor who may be
asked to submit tender agreement
within specified time, failing which the earnest money will be
forfeited and offer will be given to the second lowest tenderer.
Earnest money of all un-successful tenderers except the three lowest tenderers may be refunded
immediately after the tender is accepted.

Different powers
in respect of acceptance of the ten­ders, technical
sanction, financial limit of works for different contractors both building and
roads and Sani­tary and Plumbing
are annexed.

Deposit
Work :­

P,W.D,
may occasionally with the sanction of the
competent authority undertake to execute subject to
certain rules contribution works for which the out-lay is provided wholely or in part
from (a) funds of public nature but not
included in the financial estimates and accounts of the Government, (b)
contributions from public or private
bodies or individuals.

Supplementary estimates :­

Any
development of a project thought necessary while a work is in progress,
which is not fairly contin­gent of the
proper execution of the work as sanctioned
must be covered by a supplementary
estimate accom­panied by a full
report of the circumstances which render it necessary.

Revised estimate :­

A
revised estimate is necessary when the total cost of the project exceeds by
more than 10% of the sanctioned
amount, a revised estimate is also necessary for technical
sanction when a sanctioned estimate is likely to exceed more
than 5%

It is
essential that the revised estimate should be compared
with the latest existing sanction of the competent
authority giving reasons for revision of the estimate.

Measurement books
:

Measurement book (Form No.
2900) must be looked upon as the most important record, since it is the basis
of all quantities whether of work done by daily labour or by the piece work
system or by contract of material received which have to be counted measured.
All Measurement Books are serially numbered and issued to a person for the
purpose of recording the measurement and preparation of the bill on the basis
of measure­ment. A register of standard measurement books to avoid writing of
repetitive measurement works are maintained or use in maintenance works.